Behavioral addiction is defined as a compulsive behavior that pushes a person to do destructive behavior or take dangerous substances that endanger his life, and the addict cannot control himself or stop doing this behavior without the help of a specialist. Or reaching a dangerous stage for the life of the addict and those around him, and the following is a website for you to Esaal about the stages of behavioral addiction and ways to treat it.

First: The stages of behavioral addiction:

Experiment or Curiosity Stage:

The first stage in the stages of behavioral addiction is the experience out of curiosity, and in this stage the person experiences the behavior or substance abuse, which he will become addicted to in the future, such as gambling for the first time, shopping for the first time, trying drugs for the first time.

Regular intake phase:

In the second stage of behavioral addiction, the addict repeats the behavior on a regular basis daily or weekly, and this behavior is an important part of his life, such as addiction to sitting on the Internet in the late hours of the night, addiction to shopping every Friday, addiction to drug use daily, addiction to watching pornographic films Daily.

Hazardous phase:

The stage of regular abuse comes as an inevitable result of the stage of regular abuse, which is one of the most dangerous stages of behavioral addiction, where the negative impact of addiction appears very clearly, due to the change of his addicted life system, such as the attraction to sitting alone, staying away from his close friends, neglecting his studies or work, negligence In everyday tasks, accumulate debts on him.

Accreditation stage:

The addict completely depends on the substance abuse or the repetition of the behavior at this stage.

crisis stage:

The crisis is the last and most dangerous stage of behavioral addiction, due to the difficulty of the addict controlling himself, and at this stage the addict faces one of two fates, either death due to an overdose, or the start of the treatment phase, thus ending the stages of behavioral addiction.

Second: behavioral addiction treatment:

Treatment of behavioral addiction varies according to its type, for example, a drug addict needs drug treatment to get rid of withdrawal symptoms, and he also needs psychological rehabilitation so that he does not use again.

As for the treatment of a shopping addict, it is through individual consultations with a specialized psychiatrist, which helps him to stop buying unnecessary things.

The treatment of addiction to watching pornographic films is by prescribing some medications in addition to cognitive behavioral therapy, and the treatment phase is carried out in a specialized center or through a psychiatrist.

You can inquire in detail about ways to treat all types of behavioral addictions by contacting a question or booking a session with psychotherapists on the  Esaal website.